After more than a week, I’ve finally finished testing three of the 4 batteries sent to me by Mugen Power. Of the lot, I closely monitored the 4500mAh 3.7V extended battery for the LG Optimus 2X.
The original battery is rated at 1500mAh so the Mugen Power literally triples the capacity. As per instructions on the label, I had to charge the battery for 12 straight hours so I did this last Saturday noon.
The battery comes with a custom back cover for the phone to accommodate the bulge caused by the over-sized battery. I have to say it’s ugly — imagine your 11mm smartphone becoming as thick as a netbook? Not really ideal for day to day use.
In any case, I just had to try it and see how long the battery would last. The logs on the Android phone gave me some figures to base my observation from:
During the entire test period, WiFi was open for about 49% of the time and 3G was active for about 3% of the time. I was playing music, browsing the web, tweeting and checking in on FourSquare and, I would say, a little bit more than the usual activity I do with my phone.
The percentage doesn’t seem to be significant until you see how long the phone lasted:
Yup, that’s 8 days and 5 hours. By that time, battery life was down to 3% and had to recharge.
However, I did some more rigorous tests by the 7th day since it was still at 43%. I then activated 3G for about 2 hours straight, after which the battery life dropped down to 23%. The next 24 hours, I was doing all sorts of internet use via WiFi.
So, the 3% of 8 days is about 6 hours of 3G internet and the 49% on WiFi is like 4 days.
So okay, the extended batteries don’t really look that appealing. However, I’ve encountered some instances when this set up worked to my advantage.
When I covered CommunicAsia last week, I brought the 4500mAh battery for my LG Optimus 2X and bought a Singaporean SIM card to use it with. With unlimited 3G internet, I was able to use the phone from around 11AM to around midnight that same day with 3G connection always on the whole time. I was even using the WiFi hotspot for about 3 hours during the live coverage of Nokia Connection 2011.
The Mugen Power might not have its permanent place in my phone when I’m using it on a day to day basis but it sure will be the first thing I’ll be bringing during long trips and vacation. It’s not really a replacement battery but more like a back-up battery you stow away and use during emergencies.
This article originally appeared at - yugatech
